Friday, January 29, 2016

The police in Lagos have arrested two undergraduates for
allegedly raping a job-seeker, identified only as Nike, and robbing her of
valuables in the Igando area of the state.

Punch Metro learnt that the suspects, identified as
Valentine and Kusimo, allegedly took turns to rape their victim after luring
her into a hotel.

Valentine, an indigene of Imo State, was said to be seeing
off the 27-year-old with the hope that she would not raise the alarm when Nike
suddenly called for help. The suspects were subsequently arrested and taken to the
Igando Police Division.

The incident happened on Thursday, January 14, 2016, on
Idowu Ibiyemi Street, in the Igando area of Lagos State.

A police source told our correspondent that Valentine and Nike
had met on a dating site.

He said, “Valentine is a 400-level Civil Engineering student
of a university in Imo State. He chatted up the lady on the dating site and
from there, their conversation shifted to Whatsapp, a mobile messaging
application.

“The suspect told his friend, Kusimo, about the girl and
they decided to trick her. Kusimo, a student of a polytechnic in Ogun State,
would sometimes take Valentine’s phone and be chatting with Nike, without the
girl knowing that it was Kusimo.

“Having done that for some days, they decided to invite her
to Lagos.”

It was gathered that Nike, an indigene of Osun State,
travelled down from Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, where she was based, to the
Igando area.

Our correspondent learnt that the victim and Valentine
scheduled to meet at his house.

Punch Metro gathered that instead of taking her to his
apartment, the suspect took her to a popular hotel in the area.

The source said, “The girl did not know she was taken to a
hotel because he took her through the back into the room.

“The second suspect, had, however, hid inside the toilet. As
the lady entered the room, Valentine shut the door and Kusimo jumped out from
his hideout with a bottle. He smashed the bottle on the ground and he told the
girl to cooperate or they would kill her.

“While Valentine had two rounds, the second suspect had
three rounds of sex with her. After they had raped her, they robbed her of her
BlackBerry and N15, 000.

“In order to prevent her from exposing them, they took
snapshots of her nakedness and threatened that if she told anyone about her
ordeal, they would put the pictures on the Internet.”

Punch Metro gathered that after committing the act,
Valentine decided to see Nike off.

The victim was, however, said to have raised the alarm,
drawing the attention of passersby.

She was said to have narrated what happened to people, which
led to the arrest of both suspects.

They were detained at the Igando Police Division, before the
matter was transferred to the State Department of Criminal Investigation, Yaba.

Another police source, however, said the suspects claimed
that Nike agreed to mutual sex with them and only raised the alarm because she
was not well paid.

She said, “How can you leave your place in Ibadan for Lagos
and claim not to know what you are doing? It is not true that they raped her.
She only wanted to make money off the men, and that was why she raised the
alarm outside.

“The suspect said she demanded N200,000 for settlement and
she is saying she does not want her fiancé and family members to be aware. She
is not innocent.”

The Police Public Relations Officer, Dolapo Badmus, while
confirming the incident, said the police had charged both suspects to court.